Has an Expansion Team Ever Won a Championship?

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Nihal Kolur

Monday May 21st, 2018

Expansion teams aren't supposed to be good, especially in their first year.

The fact that these clubs have to draft players who often aren't important enough to their current teams to be protected (although that's not necessarily always the case), provides expansion teams with a significant disadvantage in their inaugural seasons.

This year, however, the Vegas Golden Knights have dispelled that notion on their way to a Stanley Cup Final appearance.

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In the NHL, the Golden Knights are just the second team since 1950 to appear in the Final in its inaugural season, joining the St. Louis Blues in 1968. However, the Blues were one of six expansion teams that year and all six of them were placed in the saem division (the winner of which advanced to the final).

In the MLS, the Chicago Fire shocked the world in 1998 by winning the MLS Cup and U.S. Open Cup in their first season.

But In the MLB, no expansion club has finished with more than 70 wins in its first season. In the NBA, the 1967 Chicago Bulls are the most successful expansion team, but they only won 33 games. And in the NFL, the 1995 Carolina Panthers, who finished just 7-9, top the list.